ABSTRACT
Patients who suffer from substance use disorders are stigmatized in the general population and even among emergency room staff and other healthcare settings. This chapter describes the presentation of typical patients who suffer from substance use disorders and is meant as a guide for the treatment and referral of these patients. Effective emergency room education, referral, and treatment strategies can improve the prognosis for patients, families, and society as a whole. The social, economic, and geographic attributes of psychiatric illness and substance use disorders are constantly evolving, with new substances and behaviors appearing and growing. The motivational matrix of stages of change is useful when conceptualizing treatment strategies for substance use and related disorders. Management of opioid use disorder includes multiple facets from intervention of acute intoxication to abstinence-oriented therapy. Cocaine use disorder is a frequent diagnosis in the psychiatric emergency room setting.
